St. Rita senior Mike Rutter (Lakeview Jr. High – Downers Grove) won five national championships in motorcycle racing the weekend of October 14-16 in Daytona, Florida. Rutter competed in the CCS Race of Champions for the first time in his career, but that didn’t stop him from dominating the field.

Rutter won races in five different weight classes, including: Lightweight, GT Lights, Lightweight Grand Prix, Ultra-Light Super-Bike, and Lightweight Thunder Bike. Two of his wins were decided by less than one-tenth of a second while a third race was decided by two-hundredths of a second. He also managed to win the GT Lights 25-minute endurance race despite crashing his bike in the rain early in the race.

Rutter has now earned his expert license and next year will race at a higher level of competition. He will also attempt to move onto a faster bike, the Yamaha R6 600cc four-cylinder bike with 140 horse-power.